Recent graduate Eben Bayer ’07 has been awarded £500,000 (over $700,000 USD) as winner of the Dutch Postcode Lottery’s PICNIC Green Challenge, an international competition to identify the most innovative product or service to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a sustainable lifestyle.

Bayer has developed an environmentally friendly organic insulation that could replace the traditional foam insulation in homes. He and business partner Gavin McIntyre ’07 have formed a company called Ecovative Design LLC, located in the Rensselaer Incubator Center, to commercialize their organic insulation technology, which they call Greensulate.